Allen & Co.’s entire value-add is in the networking. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway is by far the biggest shareholder of Coke. Warren and Herb Allen are good friends, and Herb is on Coke’s board; Donald Keough (chairman of Allen & co) is on both Coke and Berkshire Hathaway’s board and is a friend of both Warren’s and Herb’s.

One example of the many ways in which the above and other attendees are connected: Allen & Co bought a controlling interest in Columbia Pictures years ago, later sold it to Coke, and later helped Coke sell it to Sony.

Barry Diller, InteractiveCorp CEO and Sun Valley attendee, is also a Coke director. InteractiveCorp’s directors include (surprise) Donald Keough, John Malone, Diane von Furstenburg (also Barry’s wife), all in beautiful Sun Valley as we, er, speak.

The connections go on and on.

For anyone interested in how this conference REALLY works I strongly recommend reading chapter 2 of Alice Schroeder’s recent (and only authorized) biography of Buffett, “The Snowball.” The chapter, appropriately titled ‘Sun Valley,’ gives a rare, detailed insiders view of the Allen & Co. conference.